Thoughts, Findings, and Rants…

San Francisco, We’re Coming Home!

In the years that have passed since Marianne and I left the San Francisco Bay Area (and there have been 12 of those years!), we have called many places home: Silver Springs, MD; Bethesda, MD; the Upper East Side of New York City; Harlem, New York City; and Kaiserslautern, Germany. We have traveled to more places than I could list here, and have met more fantastic people than I could ever hope to recite. When we left NY for Germany, for instance, our going-away party filled the back room of a German beer hall for more than six hours of eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and hugging, and tallied up a bill that could… well, almost pay about half of a month’s rent in NYC… :-)

But in all those years, in all those cities, we have always had a sweet-spot for SF. There is just something special — no, no, there are countless somethings that are special — about the Bay Area. Once your heart has gotten hold, it just never really let’s go. We all know the Tony Bennett song (I’ll bet you’re singing it now, aren’t you? You’re welcome. :-), and he knew what he was talking about…

When we found out that Marianne’s job would be ending in November, we faced a tough decision: Where is home? Where to next? After 6.5 years in NY, it felt like going back there made sense, and we certainly had enough warm (and some times threatening) calls, emails, and chats, telling us we should move back there. And we could have! We love the hustle-and-bustle, we have a tremendous group of friends there, and we could both easily find work. Life could be fun, and we could always easily get away on the weekends when we need to recharge. We did that the whole time we lived there!

But as we thought, and thought, our hearts kept reminding us of the family (including several new members that have been added since we left!) and friends there, and of the city herself. With her bridges, the Bay, the mountains, the fog, the hills, the skyline, the Giants & Niners, and so, so much, that is just a short drive away, our hearts finally won the argument, and made the decision for us.

Come November of this year, we will be turning our lives upside-down and inside-out once again, packing everything we own into cardboard boxes, shoving Schatze into her carry-on bag, and leaving behind all the new friends we have made in Germany and across Europe in the last two years, to follow our trail back to where we started.

Marianne and I first met in SF, over 17 years ago now, and married there over 12 years ago now. It will be nice to go back “home”, to be close to my brother, his wife and kids, to Marianne’s sister, her husband, and their new baby, to all the extended family, and all the friends we’ve missed for so long. It will be nice to be able to meet-up with friends at leisure, and hang-out for more than just the few hours we have before running off to meet-up with someone else! :-)

So anyway, San Francisco, and everyone there that we love and miss so much, start spreading the news, we’re leaving today, to make a not-so-brand-new start of it, in SF Bay!!

Ciao for now, and see you soon!

Atg

PS: Oh, and, um, that means we’re both also looking for jobs, and a place to live, so, you know, if you know of something, drop us a line, wouldya?? :-)